Before proceeding with Paco’s jacket construction I really want to thank you all for the understanding and the support. This is a three day weekend for me (Monday is a holiday here) so I’m making the most of it, even more because the weather is stormy outside so what better weather for staying at home and sew, right?

When I moved to the front reinforcement panel I noticed that it would be easier to set it in place with no seam allowance on the edge, so I removed it:6 – Catch stitching the front reinforcement to the jacket’s front

I did it all by hand, being very careful not to pierce the pleather's right surface. The right reinforcement panel should have an opening where the buttonhole stands, and it should also be catch stitched to tack it down to the edge of the buttonhole.When the reinforcement piece was already attached I noticed that the lower front edge could use a little more support for stability, so I fused beta tape along the edge. The clever thing to do would be to fuse the beta tapes to the reinforcement before applying it to the front. Instead of the fusible tape I could also have used regular cotton tape, machine or handstitched to the edge of the reinforcement panel.7 – Stitching the shoulder/upper sleeve seam

I pressed the seam allowances to the back and topstitched, ending at the sleeve’s hem edge:Notice how I treated the seam allowances to reduce bulk:8 – Sides and lower sleeve seams

This seam was stitched as a single step and the seam allowances were pressed open (don’t forget to leave the pocket openings unstitched and then stitched with a lower tension/long stitch setting, just to be able to press seams open along the side and construct the in-seam pockets later). At the lower armhole corner I also stitched some cotton tape to provide additional reinforcement to this area:Here’s the seam treatment on the sleeve hem:The curve seam right bellow the armhole corner should be clipped before pressing the seam open:Here’s the right side view of the armhole lower corner:9 – Press all the hem allowances to the wrong side of the garment

10 – In-seam pockets

At this point I direct you to Paco’s tutorial so no further explaining and illustration is needed; here’s the pocket bags with the facings that I’ll be using:Next step is bagging the lining, the subject to next post (it’s a lot easier to do than to explain/illustrate, believe me!).

I got home a little earlier yesterday and I was able to make some progress. I’ll list each step so you can follow the construction order exactly as I did it:

1 – Interfacing the sleeves (pleather) for hem cushioning

Since it’s not advisable to use fusibles on pleather because it could be damaged during the fusing process, I used bias cut canvas strips a little wider than the hem allowance and I stitched them by hand right above the hem line. The stitching needle should not pierce the pleather all the way to the right side surface, but instead it should catch one thread or two from the fabric coating on the wrong side of the pleather:2 – Cushioning the lower section hem (wool fabric) and reinforcing the pocket openings and the in-seam buttonholes

There’s no problem with fusing the reinforcements here. The bias cut fusible interfacing strips were fused right above the hem line and the pocket openings and buttonholes were reinforced using chain stitched fusing tape (on both facing and right front):3 – Reinforcing the armhole lower corner on the upper sections of the jacket

This will make the Job of stitching the sleeves lower seam and side seam as a single step much easier, later on the construction process. The corner should also be clipped as seen in the photos:4 – Joining the upper facing/lapel to the front upper section

This should be done before joining the upper and lower sections; I did not stitch all the way to the top, since the upper corner will be finished later when all the facings are set in position. The seam allowances should be gently pressed open using a pressing cloth:5 – Joining the upper and lower sections (front and back)

Do notice that the stitching line ends right at the reinforced/clipped armhole corner. Next press the seam allowances open and topstitch them on both sides:Next step will be attaching the front reinforcement panels made of cotton organza… I do hope to find the time for finishing this jacket during the weekend.

My deepest apologies to my blogging readers for my lack of commenting on your blogs… Please understand that my time is so limited these days that I haven’t been able to keep up with the more than three hundred blogs that I follow, along with sewing and updating this blog in both Portuguese and English languages. I do appreciate your visits and comments and really wish I could thank each one of you personally and repay your visits as you all deserve, but I find it increasingly difficult to handle all this with my limited time schedule :(.